workout: phase 1 class... we worked on a takedown to side control, takedown to mount, bridge & roll mount escape, a standing guard pass to side and a double-under pass, and 15 minutes of positional drills.

also: got tuina for my arm; he said it'd take 12 weeks of weekly tuina for a half hour a session for it to heal, so that was 1 of 12.

Snack: a half a bowl of Trader Joe's popcorn with herbs and spices (seasoned with sea salt, dill, celery seed, and onion powder)

workout: phase 2 class; we worked escapes from mount, from someone posting from mount (escape to x-guard or half-guard), from a knee pillow and from high mount; then did positional training from mount; did pretty good, I could hang with my training partner even though he was bigger and stronger and he told me I was sneaky. easier to get out of mount to half guard than to hold mount myself, though... prob. cos i squeeze the knees which makes it hard to base quickly with my foot, so I get rolled instead. but in real life i don't hold mount; i go to side.

lunch: leftover cilantro lime chicken (which I'm tired of, but we still have some left, lol) and the last bit of the wilted salad I made for Friday's potluck. Added some raisins and a handful of pine nuts to spice it up a little.

dinner: bacon mushroom chili.

workout: drove all the way down to the gym and realized I left my Oly lifting shoes and knee sleeves at home. I wonder if I subconsciously did it because I was still sore from the day before

29th

breakfast: leftover Rotisserie chicken cooked with shredded apple

snack: chai at a meeting in a cafe (so that's probably cheat #1 for this week)

snatches up to 28K I think it was. working triples.
cleans up to 40K, working doubles but only got 1 for 40; missed at 41.
front squats... quintuples and then triples, up to 45K
behind the neck presses, up to...something, can't remember, I just do what my coach says. he had me do quintuples again.
ended with 2 X 10 situps.

30th

breakfast: Paleo pancakes (with sweet potatoes and pumpkin)

lunch: leftover Hungarian stew.

snack: handful of plantain chips

dinner: bowl of chicken egg drop soup (and it was so good!)

workout: none; i got tuina on my arm today and it was so sore after he was done; didn't want to exacerbate it

What is tuina? At first I thought you wrote tuna....and realized that didn't make sense.

__________________
"And for crying out loud. Don't go into the pain cave. I can't stress this enough. Your Totem Animal won't be in there to help you. You'll be on your own. The Pain Cave is for cowards.
Pain is your companion, don't go hide from it."
-Kelly Starrett

2
breakfast: sweet potato hash with two fried eggs on top
lunch: mixed greens salad with some of the leftover rotisserie chicken and some tomatoes and dressing
snack: I finally let myself have a large mint condition cooler. so worth it.
dinner: pork rib and onion and still drinking my cooler an hour later.
snack: carrots and guac. gross, lol. i want chips.

workout: Saturday AM open mat. My friend from Milwaukee visited!!! It was so great rolling with her. I haven't seen her in a year, and she recognized specific areas where I've improved. After 137 classes (I track them on foursquare) and no change in rank, it's nice to know I've at least improved a little.

3
breakfast: scrambled eggs and bacon
snack: sushi--assorted California rolls with brown rice. also had the samples at Trader Joe's at around 5 or so...some kind of tea/juice and half a meatball with some kind of sauce
dinner: Paleo Pad Thai. so yum.
snack: a handful of Honey Dijon potato chips and one of those cookie butter candy bars from Trader Joe's

workout: none; always rest on Sundays

4
breakfast: eggs and bacon
lunch: the rest of the Paleo Pad Thai
snack: an orange and some almonds
dinner: some lentil soup from a can. not the best choice, but works in a pinch

workout: BJJ Phase 2. We worked on two different ways of stuffing the butterfly sweep/passing butterfly guard, and then did some rolling. nice to know i can still smash people who came in way after me and now have the same rank I do. rank is stupid but it's annoying not to get it, esp. since i don't really want to compete as a white belt anymore.

snack: went out for drinks/cupcakes with my friend who just landed a sweet new job. one glass of chardonnay and one Irish car bomb cupcake (Guinness cake filled with Bailey's mousse and topped with Jameson buttercream). and 4 chips with salsa. (4 chips! lol but really that's all I had)

So yeah, not very disciplined on Tuesday.

workout: nothing. I got too busy with work between these meetings, and didn't sleep enough last night to feel up for it.)

dinner: shrimp cooked with chili powder, salt, garlic, and a little orange juice (plus a slice of orange while cooking)

workout: I actually drove all the way to jits and then Tim reminded me 7:45 isn't on Wednesdays, so I felt dumb and drove home. I couldn't go do advanced b/c my arm was sore from tuina (ancient Chinese arm torture), so I just did a bodyweight workout: 3 X 20 each squats jumping jacks and crunches. Usually I do pushups but did squats instead. This workout is way too easy.

We've pinpointed that the parts of my arm that hurt the most are my brachiaradialis (which I strained like 6 or 7 years ago) and my tricep and possibly some damage to the back of my arm/elbow area, but even though he's digging in deeper every week, we still haven't gotten deep enough to know for sure, but he said probably next week he might want to use some needles too, to get more chi/blood/whatever flow to those joints. only thing he's worried about is whether or not there's calcification in the joint but no way of telling really.

7th
breakfast: 2 eggs and half an avocado
snack: just a cup of coffee (yes with cream and sugar)
late lunch: a homemade tuna salad with avocado, tomatoes, carrots, lemon, olive oil, etc.
dinner: slice of pizza and a root beer (oops! but it was so free)
second dinner: Paleo chili and vegetables
late-night snack: banana and almonds

workout: was gonna do Oly, but I didn't. I think I need to find a better plan for my schedule... knowing my arm is sore for 1-2 days after I get tuina on Wednesdays, I should do Oly on Mondays or Tuesdays.

8th
breakfast: scrambled eggs cooked with spinach, with some cooked grape tomatoes
lunch: filet mignon served with arugula & blue cheese (AKA the healthiest thing on the menu)
dinner: pork loin and butternut squash stew with lots of other veggies

workout: open mat; 5 rounds

9th
breakfast: sweet potato hash with two fried eggs on top
lunch: leftover pork and butternut squash stew from yesterday
snack: i ordered an orgasmic chai (which is regular chai with a shot of toasted marshmallow) at the cafe i was at
snack 2: went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few things, and I had their sample, which was a taste of lasagna with 1/4 of a mozzarella stick and some cranberry juice. These are the tiny servings in the little paper cups.
dinner: homemade bacon-wrapped chicken thighs with onion, garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, oh and mushrooms
snack 3: half a bowl of plantain chips and guacamole

breakfast: eggs scrambled with tomatoes and mushrooms, a banana
lunch: some chips and salsa. trapped at home b/c of the snow (and I just couldn't make myself eat that pork stew for the 3rd time in a row)
snack: peanut butter and jelly candy bar from Trader Joe's
dinner: sweet Italian pork sausage with sweet potatoes, collard greens, chicken broth, etc.

Been really watching my diet for the past month or so because I'm on a quest to get back down to my competition weight... well actually I guess lower than my comp weight because I used to walk around at 3 lbs over and cut water or diet the week before and then wear a 3 lb lightweight gi, so my "old" walking weight was about 6 lbs. more than I want to get to. I want to wear whatever gi I want. So I'm about 1/3 of the way there after just under a month (28 days). Hoping 2-3 more months will do it. My goal is to lose gradually and maintain instead of cutting down and regaining after the tournament, as I've always done.

So about 14 pounds to go, but I know the 8 will be easy and those last 6 will be tough because it's been forever.

I've been trying to have a more sustainable diet instead of trying to pretend I'm 100% Paleo or worse, Whole30. But I'm also trying to make sure my cheat meals are limited (smaller portions and only 3-ish times per week is the goal...I get closer each week). The best way to do that is to make sure they're awesomely delicious instead of just any old crap, and to chew tons of gum.

Also trying to not decide on a specific tournament I want to cut weight for until I'm at weight, and THEN I can pick a tournament.

2/12
breakfast: eggs and bacon
lunch: homemade tuna and veggie salad (with lime juice instead of lemon juice for variety)
snack: a bunch of junk I really shouldn't have eaten...but it was free. I had a brownie, some mini candy bars, some crackers with sauces, a piece of spanakopita, etc.
dinner: frozen terikayi chicken. i was going to eat the leftover pork and sweet potatoes from friday but it was bad so i had to throw it out and went to get a rotisserie chicken but the store was out so i got the only frozen meal with veggies and whole grains (brown rice), also has chicken and snap peas and carrots and red pepper, but the sauce had soy sauce and honey/sugar, so i transferred the thing to a regular plate to get some of the sauce off.
snack: apple and almond butter. because that wasn't enough food.

workout: just did 3 sets of 20 of pushups/situps/jumping jacks; was still sore from the day before

2/13
breakfast: eggs and bacon
lunch: I skipped lunch. was freaking out because of a dental problem
dinner: chicken apple sausage with sweet potatoes, kale, zucchini, onion, garlic and spices
snack: an orange

workout: I went to restorative yoga instead of BJJ because I was freaking out about my tooth. I think I prob. need a root canal; will find out for sure next week.
also: got tuina, so at least my arm is getting better, even though my tooth is fucked

2/15
breakfast: eggs with salsa, bacon, avocado
snack: a cup of coffee...but I had it with no sugar this time, but it had added cream. not sure which is better.
lunch at 5:30: I made myself eat the chicken and a banana that I brought to the coworking space on my drive from there to open mat; figured I should eat something even though I didn't want to
dinner: Southwestern chili: sweet potatoes, diced tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic and spices

2/20
breakfast: scrambled eggs and half a glass of smoothie with blueberries, spinach, almond butter, coconut manna, cocoa powder, and coconut milk
snack (at an event): yogurt and 3 pieces of fruit
lunch: boxed lunch. mango chicken salad sandwich, chips, salad, cookie
dinner: just ate random food they had out for dinner while networking after this event. Some meat and salad, a few crackers, an egg roll, etc. No whole grains, but really I was just trying to chew and have been eating so little that I just ate what was there. Oh and I had a beer and I had part of a brownie. I don't really feel bad about it.

2/24
breakfast: eggs, bacon, red pepper, green pepper, garlic, onion, etc.
lunch: leftover Paleo chili with mushrooms and bacon and half an avocado.
snack: at TJ's, I tried the carrot with some dip and some cranberry juice
dinner: osso "buco" with tomatoes and carrots. I'm playing with the 4-Hour Chef